Measuring and improving primary school teacher judgement accuracy of reading performance in South Africa

• In Event: From Constraints to Change: Data-Driven Approaches to Transform Early Literacy

Proposal

Despite achieving near-universal primary school enrolment, South Africa continues to face severe challenges in improving school quality and learner performance, particularly in schools serving disadvantaged communities (van der Berg et al., 2011). These persistent disparities reflect broader societal inequalities and reinforce cycles of poverty and exclusion. Access to quality education is not only an educational priority but also a critical driver of social cohesion and inclusion. There is wide consensus that South Africa faces a reading crisis, with learners failing to acquire foundational literacy skills during the early years of schooling (van der Berg et al., 2011; Spaull, 2013; Taylor et al., 2018; Fleisch & Dixon, 2019; Mohohlwane et al., 2022b; Wills et al., 2022; Spaull, 2023). The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) revealed that 81% of Grade 4 learners cannot read for meaning (DBE, 2023). These deficits arise during the foundation phase and continue to widen as learners progress through the schooling system, entrenching inequalities and perpetuating educational and social divides (van der Berg, 2015a).

In response to this crisis, a number of interventions have been introduced to improve early-grade literacy outcomes. Among these, structured pedagogy programmes — combining scripted lesson plans, high-quality learning materials, and teacher training — have shown promising effects on learner performance (Fleisch, 2018; Spaull, 2023). Much of the focus of the teacher support element of these programs has been on teaching practice with little focus on other aspects of teaching like assessment practice. In a context like South Africa where reading performance is low and heterogenous within the classroom, strategies like differentiated instruction become important. In order to differentiate instruction, for curriculum or intervention implementation, teachers need knowledge on student levels of attainment and their instructional needs in addition to subject-content knowledge (van Geel et al., 2019). Without this knowledge, there is a risk that struggling learners remain unidentified, excluded from meaningful learning opportunities, and ultimately left behind, exacerbating existing inequalities within the classroom and the broader society.

Formative assessment plays a central role in providing teachers with this knowledge. Through formative assessment, teachers gather information about learners’ proficiency relative to curriculum expectations, identify learning gaps, and adapt their teaching practices to address these needs (Kanjee & Bhana, 2022; Wiliam & Thompson, 2017). In theory, formative assessment enables teachers to provide targeted support that brings learners closer to expected performance levels and fosters more equitable learning environments. In practice, however, existing research shows that formative assessment practices in South Africa are generally weak and require strengthening.
Several challenges constrain the effective implementation of formative assessment. Many teachers struggle to elicit meaningful information from learners during assessments, resulting in limited diagnostic insights into learning gaps (Kanjee, 2020). Even when teachers successfully identify gaps, they often lack the skills and strategies to adapt their instruction accordingly (Kanjee & Mthembu, 2015). The absence of clear and accessible guidelines on how to conduct and interpret formative assessments further limits their effective use (Kanjee & Croft, 2012; Kanjee & Sayed, 2013). Structural constraints, such as large class sizes, scarce resources, and significant variation in learners’ home language proficiency, also pose additional barriers to personalised assessment and feedback (Cilliers et al., 2020; Spaull & Pretorius, 2022b). In the case of reading specifically, a lack of appropriately levelled texts and diagnostic tools further inhibits teachers’ ability to accurately assess and respond to learners’ literacy needs (Mkhwanazi et al., 2014; Spaull & Pretorius, 2022b).

To address these gaps, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has rolled out the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), a tool developed in 2006 and adapted into all 11 official South African languages by 2007. EGRA provides teachers with a cost-effective, accessible way to assess learners’ literacy skills and identify areas requiring targeted support (Govender & Hugo, 2020). Through provincial training sessions led by subject advisors, teachers were introduced to EGRA toolkits and encouraged to conduct periodic assessments in their classrooms (DBE, 2019b, cited in Govender & Hugo, 2020).

Despite its potential, EGRA implementation has faced several limitations. Its rollout is incomplete, and in many provinces, data generated from EGRA assessments are neither systematically collated nor benchmarked (Mohohlwane et al., 2022b). At the time of its introduction, South Africa also lacked established reading benchmarks in African languages, leaving teachers without clear guidelines on how to interpret EGRA results or translate them into actionable teaching strategies. Nevertheless, it was expected that exposure to EGRA would help teachers develop an understanding of relative learner proficiency, enabling them to distinguish stronger readers from those requiring additional support and thus improve their capacity to differentiate instruction effectively.

This pilot study evaluates teachers’ knowledge of learners’ reading levels and examines the effectiveness of an intervention designed to strengthen formative assessment practices. The findings indicate that teachers tend to systematically overestimate learners’ performance, suggesting that many struggling readers remain unidentified and unsupported. However, the study also finds that providing teachers with structured benchmarks, practical training, and formative assessment tools improves their knowledge of relative learner performance which enhances their ability to identify learning gaps accurately.

These results have important implications for both policy and practice. Strengthening teachers’ formative assessment capacity is critical not only for improving early-grade literacy outcomes but also for advancing educational equity more broadly. In a society where educational divides closely reflect historical and socioeconomic inequalities, empowering teachers to recognize and respond to diverse learner needs is essential for addressing structural disadvantage. Strengthened assessment practices also have the potential to transform classrooms into spaces where every learner is seen, supported, and given a meaningful opportunity to succeed. In conclusion, this study highlights the urgent need to improve formative assessment practices within South African classrooms as part of a broader strategy to address the early-grade reading crisis. By enhancing teacher capacity, providing reading benchmarks, and integrating formative assessment into differentiated instruction, policymakers and practitioners can promote more equitable and inclusive learning environments.

Authors

• Asanda Gontse Lobelo, Department of Basic Education

• Cally Ardington, University of Cape Town